School of Education

Associate Professor Dean Cooley

Qualifications

Doctor of Philosophy – Victoria University 2004

Master of Education (Research) – University of Tasmania 1992

Bachelor of Education – Tasmanian College of Advanced Education 1983

Biography

Dr Dean Cooley is a researcher with the School of Education. He has worked for over 10 years as a senior Health and Physical Educator teacher in secondary schools before moving into higher education. In his previous role, he served in a number of senior leadership roles including Deputy Head of School, Course Coordinator and Academic Director of Professional Experience at the University of Tasmania before taking up the position of Academic Director of Professional Experience. He has lectured in the area of Sport and Exercise Psychology in undergraduate as well as graduate level units. He has been involved in several collaborative large-population based investigations related to health and well being.

Areas of expertise

Dr Cooley’s area research expertise is in sport and exercise psychology, with a particular emphasis on physical activity. He has been involved in several collaborative population based investigations related to the effects of physical movement on health and well being. His work has covered four principle areas; physical activity and health, self-handicapping and evaluative threat, profession development of pre-service teachers and the use of technology to alter prolonged sitting habits of desk-based workers. His research outputs include both quantitative and qualitative methodologies.

(1) Prolonged Sitting and Non-Exercise Physical Activity

Dean's research aligns to a better health for all theme. His studies have involved the development and use of technology to mitigate the adverse health effects of prolonged sitting. He works across institutions on this research theme collaborating with researchers associated with the University of Tasmania’s Active Work Laboratory which he co-founded with Dr Scott Pedersen in 2013. This project has impacted on health and well-being of Tasmanian workers with the technology rolled out to all Tasmanian Public Services, Tasmania Police, local councils, and several private industries. This project is dedicated to using non-exercise physical activity as a means of improving health in individuals involved in sedentary work. The research utilises a socio-ecological theoretical foundation, as well as elements of protection motivation theory, to investigate how change to the built environment combined with education can change health behaviour.

(2) Self-handicapping and Evaluative Threat

A second stream of Dr Cooley’s research has been the investigation on the phenomenon of self-handicapping behaviours of young athletes when engaged in physical activity. In particular Dr Cooley has a particular interest in how people use excuses before a testing situation as a means of protecting self-esteem or maintaining self-image.

(3) Preparation of Initial teacher educators

Dr Cooley is involved in several projects that investigate the preparation of pre-service teachers. These projects encompass the role of professional induction, the preparation of initial teacher educators in the area of disability, ways of overcoming proactive inhibition in mathematics education, the quality of supervision of teacher education. And the effectiveness of personal centred coaching on teacher development. He is current working with a consortium of Universities to implement a Graduate Teacher Performance Assessment scheme into professional experience.

(4) Physical Activity and Health

Dr Cooley is involved in several projects that investigate the link between physical activity and health. These projects range from investigating children’s’ physical fitness and motoric skill levels to those of call centre workers. He is currently working with a consortium of universities to investigate the health and well being of professional staff working in the area of work integrated learning placements.

Russell, B., Summers, M., Tranent, P., Palmer, M., Cooley, P.D., Pedersen, S., (2015). A randomised control trial of the cognitive effects of working in a seated as opposed to a standing position in office workers, Ergonomics.

Cooley, P.D., & Pedersen, S.J., (2013). A pilot study of increasing nonpurposeful movement breaks at work as a means of reducing prolonged sitting, Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, pp. 1-8.

Pedersen S. J, Cooley P. D, 'University of Tasmania researchers have teamed up with the police department to trial a new computer program that prompts desk workers to do short bursts of exercise throughout the day', ABC Radio, Hobart, Tasmania, 12 April 2010 (2011) [Media Interview][eCite][Details]

Pedersen S. J, Cooley P. D, 'A new program developed by the University of Tasmania and designed to improve the health of office workers is underway in the offices of the Tas Police Force', ABC News, Hobart, Tasmania, 12 April 2010 (2010) [Media Interview][eCite][Details]Co-authors: Cooley P. D